 |
|
Mufti allays fears on evacuee property Need to treat haemophilics as disabled stressed
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Routes to Pak under repair 8 killed in J&K
|
|
Mufti allays fears on evacuee property Srinagar, April 30 Mufti Sayeed, who was in Kerala yesterday, said there was no cause of concern for the refugees of 1947 as the government would protect the interests of the legitimate holders of the custodian property. He said whoever comes from the other part of the state with an intention to stay here had to do so under the process of law that would take adequate care of the people in legal possession of the evacuee property, an official spokesman said. With the beginning of bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, the government had been in favour of steps “to reunite the divided families”, without having any idea over the fallout. The Chief Minister’s remarks come in the wake of claims made by nearly 12 persons, who arrived here from PoK by the first bus between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad on April 7, on their ancestral property. One of them, Fareeda Ghani, who, along with her brother, returned to PoK by bus on April 21, held that she would put in all legal efforts to get back her property in Srinagar. She had consulted revenue officials and made her claim on some big chunks of land here. The property of those who migrated to PoK or Pakistan following Partition and prior to 1949 is being looked after by the Department of Custodian General set up later. While the opposition National Conference, which had earlier introduced and passed the Bill, seeks its implementation considering aspirations of the people, several others have different views on the issue. The Deputy Chief Minister, Mangat Ram Sharma, has approached the Governor seeking his intervention in preventing the implementation of the Bill. Another coalition partner, the Panthers Party, led by Mr Bhim Singh, has also opposed the move while the BJP staged a demonstration in Jammu yesterday demanding scrapping of the Resettlement Law. A similar situation is expected on the other side of the LoC. A senior Sikh resident, who had migrated from the other side of the LoC around the time of Partition, told The Tribune that he alone had over 400 kanals in PoK. The Resettlement Bill was introduced and passed in the Assembly by the National Conference regime, led by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, in 1980. But it did not get an assent by the then Governor. It was enacted two years later during Farooq Aabdullah regime. |
|
Need to treat haemophilics as disabled stressed Srinagar, April 30 “There can be more than 1,000 such patients suffering from this genetically transmitted bleeding disorder in Jammu and Kashmir,” according to Mrs Basu
Parthasarthy, vice-president, Haemophilic Federation of India. Its Jammu chapter, established a decade ago, has listed 68 patients in Kashmir apart from nine registered cases from Kupwara district of north Kashmir. It has already registered 78 cases in Jammu
region. Herself a carrier, Mrs Parthasarthy claims there is no proper knowledge in medical institutions about the disease while there is lack of education about it among sufferers. She lost her son to the disease over 25 years ago due to lack of “proper knowledge and treatment” of the disease. Mrs Parthasarthy seeks to include these patients in the group of the disabled as they too have to face social stigma. Talking to mediapersons here, she urged the government to provide “comprehensive care” to such patients in hospitals. She sought an awareness drive on this problem and introduction of free care
anti-haemophilic centres in
the country. She cautioned that haemophilic patients were prone to HIV on account of frequent blood
transfusion. The loss of blood was mainly found in joints, leading to hemo-arthritis and loss
of muscles. “Haemophilia is a genetically transmitted, life-threatening, chronic bleeding disorder which can disable the affected person when left untreated…. Female in the family is the carrier of the disease and males inheriting the carrier gene from their mother suffer from the disease,” Mrs Parthasarthy stated. The incidence of this disorder was global. It affected all ethnic groups and one in 10,000 male births was a haemophilic. She claimed that India had more than 60,000 males suffering from haemophilia. While the society had 62 chapters in the country, its J&K chapter had been working since 1995. Mr Jagdish Sharma, a haemophilic and representative of the state chapter, lamented that it was difficult for economically weaker sections to treat the problem. “Being a victim of the bleeding disorder, I had to spend more than Rs 1.50 lakh on the extraction of my two teeth,” he said “Medical facilities are available in Jammu and Kashmir but poor awareness of the disorder impedes proper treatment of these patients,”
he stated. Habibullah, a resident of Kupwara district, has lost three sons aged between three and 12 and is desperately searching for treatment of his
fourth child. He could not get proper treatment for his children at the main hospitals — SKIMS and SMHS — located here. |
|
|
Routes to Pak under repair Jammu, April 30 The two roads have been in bad shape since the 1971 Indo-Pak war after the Mandla bridge, on the Indian side, was destroyed to stall the forward march of Pakistani troops. Of late, government agencies and the Army, on either side of the LOC, have been engaged in repairing and upgrading the roads which, when opened, could facilitate easy communication between the members of the divided families. According to Haji Mohammad Bashir, resident of Poonch, the distance between Poonch and Rawalakot (in Pakistan occupied Kashmir) via Betar Nullah is 33 km and via Mandla 45 km. Senior functionaries of the district administration in Poonch have indicated that it may take another 15 or 20 days to complete the repair work on the Poonch-Betar Nallah road stretch. But seven months are required for making the Poonch-Rawalakot road fit for traffic because Pakistan has to construct a vital bridge on the river at Madharpur. People in the Poonch-Rajouri belt are keen to see either of the two bus routes open. For a majority of members of the divided families opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road does not seem to have solved their problem. Bashir Ahmed, also from Poonch, said, “If we travel from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad we have to cover a distance of over 700 km which may mean that our travel duration can be more than three days.” “On the other hand it may take 10 or 45 minutes to cross over to Rawalakot from Poonch. In fact, after the opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus route the demand for opening of the routes of Poonch-Rajauri and Suchetgarh-Sialkot has been stepped up in the Jammu region. Some of the supporters of this demand have started accusing the state government of discrimination against people of Jammu by delaying the opening of border routes in Poonch and Suchetgarh. However, the two main political parties, the BJP and the Congress, have stepped up their campaign against any move on the part of the state government for implementing the Resettlement Act. Under the Act those citizens who had migrated to Pakistan and occupied Kashmir between 1947 and 1950 could become permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir if they choose to stay back. These two parties have also demanded scrapping of the Act along with the provisions under which any visitor from across the border can seek restoration of those immovable assets that fall under the Eevacuee Property Act. Their plea is that if these two Acts were not scrapped several thousand refugee families, settled in Jammu since 1947, could lose their properties. Twelve organisations of refugees have formed a joint action committee for safeguarding their interests in this regard. |
|
8 killed in J&K
Srinagar, April 30 Two militants of Hizbul Mujahideen were killed in a fierce gunbattle at Salar in the Pahalgam area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district this morning, a defence spokesman said. Security forces got a tip-off about the movement of the ultras in the Salar area and laid an ambush. On being challenged, the militants opened fire on the security forces which was retaliated, he said.
— PTI |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
